PDFVISTAS_2_1_Preparing for work and inquiry via a CLEAR approach.pdf
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Abstract

The ‘Combined Learning for Employability and Research’ (CLEAR) framework is an approach designed to support inquiry based learning and development of employability attributes. It emerged as a set of responses to difficulties encountered on a Level 5 ‘Work Related Learning and Research’ module, where students often struggled to manage themselves, work to time, expedite group projects, handle multiple perspectives and apply research methods theory. The study which sought to articulate, evaluate and conceptualise the CLEAR approach, used data and analysis from student reflections, module statistics and observations, interviews with research methods tutors and students (pre/post experiencing CLEAR); and literature perspectives. Outcomes from fieldwork assisted in identifying specific areas of difficulty and in providing qualitative evidence of benefits related to the holistic nature of the CLEAR approach. Findings are linked to a theoretical framework integrating learning which is: active and student-centred; experiential and reflective; inquiry based; socially and individually constructed; and which encompasses cultural discourses and transforms tutor and student identities.